1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for configuring a product that has selectable features, and more particularly, to dynamically providing the real-time price and or availability of those selectable features throughout the configuration process.
2. Description of the Related Art
Within eCommerce systems (i.e., conducting business on-line over the Internet), the questions of deciding what products to purchase may depend upon several factors. Depending on the eCommerce customer, certain factors will be more important than other factors. Some of these factors, for example, include the variety of selectable product features, the functionality of product features, and the price and the availability of the product with selected features. Each of the above-mentioned factors, among others, can play a critical role in the purchasing decision of a customer. Thus, the configuration of a multi-feature product involves at least three different processes: (1) the actual selection of the various product features; (2) establishing a price for each of the selected features, as well as the overall price of the multi-feature product; and (3) the availability of each of the selected features, as well as the overall availability of the multi-feature product.
Conventional configuration techniques typically involve performing the selection, pricing and the availability processes separately and independent from one another. As a result, availability information (and sometimes pricing information) is determined only after the multi-feature product has been completely configured. The problem with this technique is that both price and availability of various product features may influence what product features are actually selected. This problem is further exacerbated by the disconnect that historically exists between a customer who is purchasing a configurable product and the entity that will actually make the product—the manufacturer. Also, the vendors that supply raw materials to the manufacturer are even further disconnected from the customer. Techniques involving supply chain planning (SCP) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) attempt to integrate the sellers and customers with the manufacturing environment, but such techniques are based on the presumption that a bill of materials that fully defines the configurable product has already been generated. As such, the disconnect between customers and the manufacturing environment has not been bridged by these techniques.
For instance, an eCommerce customer can select all the features of a configurable product through a web-enable configuration application at the web site of the product seller. Once the seller has the customer's order or bill of materials (BOM), the seller presents that BOM to the manufacturer of the product. The manufacturer must evaluate the BOM in order to determine a number of things including what resources are needed to make the product. Pursuant to conventional manufacturing resource planning techniques, such resources can be broken down into two categories: (1) consumable resources, such as goods, sub-assemblies and other materials; and (2) re-usable resources, such as machines, employees and other non-depletable items.
Consumable resources may either be stocked in inventory, or may be supplied by an outside vendor once a product comprised of those materials is ordered (i.e., a BOM is received by the manufacturer). Other considerations the manufacturer must take into account with regards to such consumable resources include how many previous orders have priority over the order just received, how long the inventory will sustain the current order base, and how long it will take a vendor to supply the materials that are not maintained in inventory, just to name a few. Additionally, unpredictable events that affect supply chains (e.g., natural disasters adversely affecting raw materials and the people that produce those materials, or common carrier labor strikes) can be considered. Factors such as these all play a significant role in a manufacturer's ability to give an accurate price and delivery date to the customer placing the order, whether that customer be, for example, an individual consumer (end-user) or a seller.
Re-usable resources are typically resources the manufacturer has in-house. However, considerations such as machine down-time (e.g., because of preventative maintenance or repair), employee absences (e.g., because of vacations and sick days), internal labor strikes, and computer-related failures (e.g., such as a crashed network or database) also impact the manufacturer's ability to give an accurate price and delivery date to the entity placing the order.
Based on all such considerations relevant to the consumable and re-usable resources, a manufacturer provides to the seller a price and availability quote estimating when the ordered product will be ready. The supplier can then give a price and availability quote to the customer. Typically, supply-oriented companies (e.g., the seller) are able to provide the pricing component of the configuration process without any further information from the manufacturer, but such companies typically neglect the availability component of the configuration process. On the other hand, manufacturing-oriented companies may provide the availability component within eCommerce applications, but have failed to provide the selection and pricing components. Thus, the consumer's purchasing decision is typically constrained by a lack of knowledge regarding optimal terms relevant to pricing and/or availability.
More specifically, the customer may or may not be satisfied with the quoted terms. For example, the customer may have been willing to pay more for an earlier availability date, or willing to take a later availability date for a lower price. For the purpose of customer satisfaction, therefore, the processes of pricing product features and determining the availability of the product with those features should be considered during the process of selecting individual product features rather than after the entire product is configured. Current product configuration techniques that provide price and availability information only after the consumer has generated a BOM are inadequate and fail to satisfy important customer needs.
Therefore, what is needed is an extended product configuration technique that gives customers access to price and availability information during the process of configuring a multi-feature product. Additionally, the customer should be able to constrain the configuration process based on the desired price and or availability dates of individual product features. Likewise, the customer should be able to constrain the configuration process based on the overall price and or availability date of a configured product. The BOM generated by this extended product configuration technique should reflect all consumer dictated constraints, including constraints on price and or availability.